4 ballot questions are no longer a question

BY CATHERINE LUCEY, Daily News Staff Writer

With about 80 percent of precincts reporting, all four questions were coasting with wide margins of approval.

Here's what got the OK:

Question 1: Asked if the city should amend the home-rule charter to create a body to set water and sewer rates. This proposal from Council President Darrell Clarke faced intense debate. Clarke wants to set up an independent body on the grounds that the current process - the water commissioner proposes rate hikes and then after public hearings approves them - is too insular.

Question 2: Asked if the charter should be amended to require the administration to provide more information with the budget proposal.

Question 3: Asked if the charter should be changed to give hiring preference to grandchildren of cops and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Such preference is already given to their children.

Question 4: Asked if the city should be allowed to borrow $123 million for capital expenses like streets and recreation centers.